EEDC, Enugu Assembly fight over electricity bills

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company has said the ‘quit notice’ issued to it by the Enugu State House of Assembly is an attempt to stop the company from going ahead with plans to recover debt from the Enugu State Government.
The Enugu State House of Assembly had, on March 31, ordered the electricity distribution company to shut down its operations and leave the state.
The lawmakers also passed a vote of no confidence in EEDC over epileptic power supply, alleged ‘outrageous billing’ of consumers, and non-supply of prepaid meters.
The legislators, who also called for the declaration of ‘a state of emergency’ on power supply in Enugu, directed electricity consumers in the state to stop paying bills for “power they did not use.”
The assembly equally directed the management of EEDC to appear before the House.
However, reacting to the development, EEDC Chairman, Emeka Offor, said the lawmakers decided to incite the public against the company because of huge arrears of electricity bills owed by the government.
According to Offor, Enugu is EEDC’s biggest debtor among the five states in the South-East, where the company operates.
He said the vote of no confidence and the order on the company to vacate Enugu were part of a plot to blackmail the company in a bid to stop it from recovering the debts.
He said, “Very recently, the Enugu State House of Assembly passed a vote of no confidence in us and this is a state that is owing the EEDC the sum of N2.6bn. We feel that this is unfair.”